United States: Gnall v. Gnall – What Started With A Bang Ended With A Whimper

As
noted yesterday, the long awaited decision in the Gnall case was released
today. Previously,
we have blogged about the Gnall v. Gnall case. In this case, the
Appellate Division deemed a 15 year marriage to be "long
term" and remanded the matter for consideration of permanent
alimony. This case exploded onto the scene because it seemed
to create a bright line that 15 years of marriage merited permanent
alimony.

However, this case was decided before the
new alimony reform statute had passed. As I noted on this
blog previously, there was a thought that the amendments to the
alimony statute might render this much ado about nothing. At
the end of the day, it was much ado about nothing, but not because
of the new statute, which was given very short shrift in the
opinion.

Rather, the Justices, in a unanimous opinion, reiterated that
all of the factors in the alimony statute must be considered, and
no one factor can be elevated in importance. One might say,
"tell us something we don't know."

What was fascinating is the Supreme Court seemed to take both
the trial court and the Appellate Division to task for focusing on
one factor – duration of the marriage – to the
exclusion of the others. The Supreme Court noted:

... We find that the trial court did not consider and weigh all
of the necessary factors required by N.J.S.A. 2A:34-23 in
determining that permanent alimony was unwarranted but, instead,
based its decision solely on N.J.S.A. 2A:34-23(b)(2). We further
conclude that in reversing the Appellate Division inadvertently
created a bright-line rule requiring an award of permanent
alimony.

The Court went on to note that:

While the trial court identified the marriage as "not
short-term," it ultimately concluded that consideration of an
award of permanent alimony was obviated by the parties'
relatively young ages and the fact that they were not married for
twenty-five or thirty-years. The trial court therefore, in effect,
determined that permanent alimony awards are reserved solely for
long-term marriages of twenty-five years or more, excluding
consideration of the other factors. No per se rule exists
indicating that permanent alimony is unwarranted unless the
twenty-fifth year anniversary has been reached. Therefore, we find
that the trial court improperly weighed duration over the other
statutorily defined factors in determining a long-term marriage
must be twenty-five years or more.

We further conclude that in its disposition of this appeal the
Appellate Division inadvertently created a bright-line rule for
distinguishing between a short-term and long-term marriage as it
pertains to an award of permanent alimony. Although the Appellate
Division stated "we do not intend to draw specific lines
delineating 'short-term' and 'long-term' marriages
in an effort to define those cases warranting only limited duration
rather than permanent alimony," a fair reading of the opinion
may lead to such a conclusion. By not clarifying that the statement
reflected only the fifteen-year marriage in this particular case,
the Appellate Division made a generally applicable declaration.

The Court further noted that in using the language that was used
by the Appellate Division, consideration of the other alimony
factors was functionally eliminated. The Court held:

Moreover, we note that the final clause of the sentence affirms
that the "not short-term" nature of a fifteen-year
marriage mandates that it cannot be considered for limited duration
alimony. Such a holding removes the other twelve factors from
consideration for alimony awards once a marriage reaches the
fifteen-year mark. Our cases have consistently held
that all thirteen factors must be considered and given due weight, and the duration
of marriage is only one factor to be considered.
(Emphasis added).

There you have it – courts have to consider all of the
factors. Put another way, there can be long term marriages
where permanent alimony was not appropriate when all of the other
factors were considered, and short term marriages that may have
required permanent alimony, all other things considered.

As noted above, the new statute was barely mentioned.
Essentially, the new statute was dismissed in a footnote which
said:

N.J.S.A.
2A:34-23(c) was amended on September 10, 2014 to specify that
"[f]or any marriage or civil union less than 20 years in
duration, the total duration of alimony shall not, except in
exceptional circumstances, exceed the length of the marriage or
civil union. . . ." The amendment is not applicable to this
case.

Clearly, on the remand, that means that the court will have to
decide alimony based upon the old statute. Query, however,
what this means to cases settled or decided before the Amendment
which have to go back to court for some reasons. I suppose
that some may use the footnote to argue that the old law should
apply if it helps their client's case.

I was fortunate to be one of the authors of the amicus brief
filed by the New Jersey Chapter of the American Academy of
Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML). Even though the end result was
somewhat anticlimactic, being involved in the process was still
rewarding.

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